But while Dani Levy's new film has aspirations to great comedy, or, failing that, great social satire, it achieves neither. It's a diverting, mildly entertaining movie, prompting nothing like the controversy (or laughter) it apparently inspired during its German release.

Jaeckie Zucker (Henry Huebchen of "Run, Lola, Run") is always in debt, always with a hand in the latest gambling scheme. His estranged son Thomas runs the bank that's threatening to send him to debtors' prison, while his daughter Jana refuses to see him. Back at home, wife Marlene (Hannelore Elsner) is on the verge of leaving him when Jaeckie's mother dies in Frankfurt. Before you can say "oy, vey," the Zuckers are inundated by Jaeckie's brother Samuel (Udo Samel) and his two children, all highly observant Jews. They've brought the deceased matriarch herself along with her various and stringent requirements for shiva (the Jewish mourning tradition). These rules will be followed, it emerges, or the inheritance will go to a relief organization.

One of those provisions is that Samuel and Jaeckie end their 40-year feud--which coincided with the Berlin Wall. While Samuel and his mother fled to the West for medical treatments, Jaeckie stayed in the Communist East, turned his back on his heritage and became a minor celebrity as a sportscaster.

Embracing the theory that "it's never too late to become Jewish," Marlene (a shiksa), Thomas, Jana and Jaeckie come together, bound by one common goal: to fool everyone into thinking they're an observant, mostly normal family.

The tensions are meant to be pointedly East versus West; personal gain versus piety, preserving history versus reconciliation. But in the end, the themes are far more universal than that: We've all got families; it's just that some are more meshuggah than others.

The slightly breathless publicity leads one to expect something more problematic. This may be due to a cultural divide: Is it a good thing that topics deemed so touchy in Germany are not particularly inflammatory in the U.S.? Most likely, it's just a sign that we've got our own demons to deal with here.

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In German, with English subtitles. Running time: 1:35. Opens Friday at the Wilmette Theatre.